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Inco’s Roots: The Sequel – by Marty McAllister (Inco Triangle – June 1990)

For Inco Triangle Archives, click here: http://www.sudburymuseums.ca/triangle/?home

This article came from the June 1990 issue of the Inco Triangle: thttp://www.sudburymuseums.ca/triangle/data/INCOTriangle-19900601.pdf

“Fools rush in …” In my January column, I boldly wrestled with the objective of finding the very beginning of Inco’s oldest operation. I even set out a rule: there had to be evidence of organizational continuity, right through to the present. So, after a fair bit of research (and an assumption that came back to haunt me), I declared Wiggin Steel and Alloys the winner — because it started as a partnership in 1835.

Now, with not a steroid user in the lot, the Wiggin group has to be stripped of its medal. Sorry, Birmingham friends, I goofed — but I hope you enjoyed your few months in the sun.

For the benefit of Canadian readers, David Balchin is the Executive Vice-President with responsibility for Inco’s Alloys and Engineered Products segment. With extensive operations on both sides of the Atlantic, he’s a busy man. Not too busy to notice, however, when some self-styled authority hands a heritage award to the wrong member of his group! So gather `round, faithful readers, while I share the continuing story of Inco’s oldest roots.

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Homestake Mining Company History (1877-2000)

For a large selection of corporate histories click: International Directory of Company Histories

Homestake has maintained a major role in the gold mining industry for over 120 years. Since 1990, the Company has produced 17 million gold and equivalent ounces. At the end of 1999, Homestake’s share of proven and probable reserves amounted to 18.8 million ounces of gold and 110 million ounces of silver. Homestake operates both underground and open pit mines and uses a variety of mineral processing methods to extract gold, including conventional milling, heap leaching and roasting. The Company has received numerous industry awards for its superior record in the environmental, health and safety areas. Key Dates:

Company History: Owner and operator of the oldest gold mine in the United States, Homestake Mining Company is an international gold mining company with substantial gold interests in Canada and Australia, as well as smaller interests in Chile. From the company’s Homestake mine, which began producing gold in 1876, Homestake Mining has built a mining empire that has vaulted it past all competitors and ranked it as the premier gold producer in U.S. history.

The Race for Gold in the 1870s

In 1874, a U.S. Cavalry scouting party led by Lt. Col. George A. Custer inched its way through the deep valleys and steep ridges carved into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory, 15 years before the region became part of the country’s 40th state, South Dakota.

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Barrick Beyond Borders: There’s a first time for everything [Cyanide free gold]

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

Barrick produced the first of millions of ounces of gold at its Goldstrike mine using patented technology that will save jobs and allow it to continue to contribute funds to the state of Nevada

In late November 2014, the Goldstrike mine poured a small but significant bar of gold. At 107 ounces, the pour amounted to just one-eighth the size of a typical doré gold bar, but it marked the first time the mine had produced gold using its patented thiosulfate processing method. In fact, it marked the first time any company in the western world had successfully produced gold using thiosulfate.

Long viewed as a potential alternative to cyanide, which is typically used to recover gold that is trapped inside ore, thiosulfate is a difficult chemical to master. Barrick spent more than two decades perfecting its thiosulfate processing method and relied on an unmatched level of scientific and technological expertise.

“It’s the culmination of years of hard work and a good example of how our partnership culture is manifesting itself on the ground,” says Goldstrike General Manager Andy Cole. “This was a huge initiative, and it would not have succeeded if it weren’t for the collaboration, trust and accountability that developed between our project team, the construction group and the Goldstrike operations team.”

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UPDATE 2-Glencore disappoints with weak first-quarter metals output – by Silvia Antonioli (Reuters U.K. – May 5, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) – Miner and commodity trader Glencore reported weaker than expected first quarter output at some of its mining assets, with production of its top earner, copper, down 9 percent due to lower grades at two South American mines.

Glencore has a bigger exposure to base metals than iron ore compared with its large rivals. The company has a large commodity trading division, in addition to its mining and oil assets.

Bernstein analyst Paul Gait called the production figures “disappointing”, with base metals and coal lagging expectations.

Copper output was 350,700 tonnes in the first quarter, below most analysts forecasts. The fall was due to lower grades at the Alumbrera mine in Argentina and the Antamina mine in Peru, and to a maintenance shutdown at Collahuasi, in Chile.

Coal production rose 4 percent in the first quarter to 35.6 million tonnes, thanks to the commissioning of two new thermal coal projects in South Africa.

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NEWS RELEASE: BC mining industry financial results continue to be under pressure in 2014: PwC survey

Lower metallurgical coal and copper prices adversely impacting outlook

VANCOUVER, May 5, 2015 /CNW/ – Lower commodity prices again impacted the profitability of the BC mining industry in 2014. According to the annual PwC BC Mining Industry Survey for 2014, the continued drop in the price of key metals and minerals, particularly metallurgical coal and copper, led to reduced revenues and margins.

The PwC survey found aggregate gross mining revenues fell to $8.2 billion in 2014, compared to $8.5 billion in 2013. Net income before taxes came in at $288 million, down considerably from $1.4 billion in 2013, amid a drop in prices for key metals produced in the province, particularly coal. Spending also fell as companies continued to hunker down and weather the ongoing market volatility. Capital expenditures, for example, fell to $1.5 billion, compared to $1.8 billion in 2013.

“In 2014 we saw investment in BC’s mining industry remain depressed as prices for its key commodities, metallurgical coal and copper, remained soft,” said Mark Platt, Partner and Leader of PwC’s BC mining practice. “Producers and developers continue to take measures to contain costs but at least producers felt some relief from the impact of the significant weakening of the Canadian dollar compared to the US dollar.”

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Why the rush into Canadian gold mines may continue – by Steve Todoruk (Mining.com – May 4, 2015)

http://www.mining.com/

Sprott’s Thoughts – In the mining sector, mergers and acquisitions can deliver rapid returns to shareholders.  Investors in Cayden Resources saw their shares swell by 300% in price late last year, when Cayden received a takeover offer from Agnico Eagle Mines.

Steve Todoruk, a broker at Sprott Global Resource Investments Ltd., has been eyeing the next possible takeover. He believes he’s narrowed down the most likely targets.

In a recent note, he explains why it comes down to safety for the company making the acquisition:

I’m seeing two trends in mergers and acquisitions right now, as I look around the space for the next Cayden or the next Osisko Mining (which received a generous takeover early last year).

First off, in the last bull market, many big mining companies went after mines in higher-risk jurisdictions around the world. Today, investors are retrenching towards areas that are perceived as ‘safe’ – where governments aren’t likely to change the rules or confiscate assets. Investors are increasingly risk-averse and want exposure to mines in countries like Canada, the US, and Australia.

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Manitoba Hudbay workers go on strike in Flin Flon and Snow Lake – by Staff (Canadian Press/Global News – May 4, 2015)

http://globalnews.ca/

FLIN FLON, Man. — Hudbay workers in Flin Flon and Snow Lake, Man., went on strike Saturday.

The union representing the workers announced Friday negotiations with the mining company had failed and they would go on strike Saturday at noon.

Hudbay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) confirmed in a news release that 180 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local No. 1848 began a strike at noon Saturday.

The striking workers represent about 12 per cent of Hudbay’s 1,460 person workforce in Manitoba, the company said.

The union has said members want changes in wages and pensions. It said 96 per cent of its members voted against an offer from the company last month. Hudbay said it has a contingency plan in place and expects its operations to continue.

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B.C. government buys coal licences to stop mining dispute – by Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey (Globe and Mail – May 5, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VICTORIA and VANCOUVER — The B.C. government has devised a unique solution to head off conflict between a First Nations community and the developers of a proposed a coal mine, using its Crown corporation BC Rail to buy and hold coal licences during talks with the Tahltan Nation on managing the resource.

The province is paying $18.3-million to buy 61 licences from Fortune Minerals Ltd. and POSCO Canada Ltd. in a region dubbed the Sacred Headwaters in northwest British Columbia. The area is important to the Tahltan Nation because the headwaters of three important salmon rivers – the Stikine, Skeena and Nass – are there.

The companies will be able to buy back the assets at their original price if they reach an agreement with the Tahltan in the next 10 years.

Anthracite coal deposits that the companies want to mine are in an area within the Sacred Headwaters called the Klappan, which has been identified as having significant cultural significance to the First Nations community.

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BHP Wins as Modi Fails to Get India Coal Trains Running on Time – by Rajesh Kumar SinghDebjit Chakraborty (Bloomberg News – May 3, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s plans to shift India’s economy toward manufacturing and away from agriculture and services are being held up by a coal shortage.

Actually, there’s plenty of coal, just not enough trains to get it to the power plants. While about 200 railway convoys arrive every day at Coal India Ltd.’s depots, Technical Director Nagendra Kumar said the company needs 230 of them. The state-run company supplies more than 80 percent of the nation’s coal.

India will need to upgrade its railway network for Coal India to open more mines and deliver its product, said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Shares & Securities Pvt., a Mumbai-based brokerage.

“The infrastructure bottlenecks are stopping Coal India from rising to its full potential,” Choksey said. Coal generates about 60 percent of India’s electricity.

With output climbing at Coal India, the fuel is piling up at the mines. At the same time, slumping global prices mean customers are turning to imports from the likes of Glencore Plc, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Indonesia’s PT Bumi Resources.

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India a year after Modi’s election: The bullish case – by Vaishali Gauba (CNBC.com – May 5, 2015)

http://www.cnbc.com/

Almost a year after the world’s biggest democracy sent a reform-minded, pro-business candidate to its top political office, the bulls still have a case to make in favor of India—at least in the longer term.

Narendra Modi’s election whipped up an optimism that soon played out in India’s markets. The BSE Sensex, India’s chief stock index, shot up roughly 40 percent after his election last year. But things have cooled a lot in 2015, with the Sensex lower by 1.8 percent year-to-date.

But in the longer term, the bulls are still making a case for India. The nation is likely to become an increasingly important source of labor for global corporations. It has the best demographics among the big emerging-market countries, said Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman who famously coined the term “BRIC”—a catch-all for Brazil, Russia, India and China. A strong domestic market and a credible legal system are factors that make India slightly more balanced than China, he said.

“India has fantastic demographics. With urbanization in its early stages, size of the working population and productivity, India has great growth potential,” said O’Neill, now a visiting research fellow at leading European think tank Bruegel.

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Social licence: easy to grant, hard to revoke – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – May 5, 2015)

https://www.biv.com/

What happens to community social licence when resource projects get shelved?

When a new pipeline or mine is proposed, promises are often made to communities and First Nations to win community approval.

The social-licence agreements often go above and beyond what regulators require and can include increased environmental protection measures and deals to provide First Nations with job training and employment.

They can also include community amenities, such as the pledge by Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE:KMI) to fund a $500,000 upgrade to a community recreation park in Hope as part of its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion program.

But as Yukon taxpayers and mine workers are learning, it’s hard to force companies to live up to their promises and obligations when they go bankrupt.

Two mine operations in the Yukon shut down recently because the B.C. companies that own them are facing bankruptcy, leaving Yukon taxpayers on the hook for cleanup costs and workers chasing the wages owed to them.

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Quebec prepared to buy rail to help rescue iron-ore mine – by Sonja Elmquist and Frederic Tomesco (Bloomberg News/Montreal Gazette – May 5, 2015)

http://montrealgazette.com/

Quebec is prepared to buy a rail line and port facilities that service a shuttered Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. iron-ore mine to pave the way for the operation to reopen under new owners.

The government also is open to buying 20 percent of the Bloom Lake mine to facilitate a deal, Economy Minister Jacques Daoust said. Purchasing the rail and port facilities could lower the mine’s operating costs by as much as $20 a ton, he said.

“We’re trying to ensure the survival of the mine,” Daoust said Friday in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “If the last 20 percent is a problem, I will fix it.”

Cliffs suspended production at Bloom Lake in January and sought creditor protection for the operation. That put pressure on the Quebec government, which wants to boost economic activity in Cote-Nord, a region with 10.7 percent unemployment. Bloom Lake employed about 600 people when it was operational, according to Investissement Quebec, a government agency.

As recently as 2013, Bloom Lake was considered a critical part of Cleveland-based Cliffs’ strategy to build its export business to mitigate its dependence on U.S. customers.

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The Environmental Disaster That is the Gold Industry (Smithsonian Magazine – February 14, 2014)

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

The mining industry has had a devastating impact on ecosystems worldwide. Is there any hope in sight?

A global campaign to boycott what activists are calling “dirty gold” gained its 100th official follower three days before Valentine’s Day.

The pledge was launched in 2004 by the environmental group Earthworks, which has asked retail companies not to carry gold that was produced through environmentally and socially destructive mining practices. Eight of the ten largest jewelry retailers in the United States have now made the pledge, including Tiffany & Co., Target and Helzberg Diamonds. The No Dirty Gold campaign is anchored in its “golden rules,” a set of criteria encouraging the metal mining industry to respect human rights and the natural environment.

While the list of retailers aligned in their opposition to dirty gold continues to grow longer, most gold remains quite filthy. The majority of the world’s gold is extracted from open pit mines, where huge volumes of earth are scoured away and processed for trace elements. Earthworks estimates that, to produce enough raw gold to make a single ring, 20 tons of rock and soil are dislodged and discarded.

Much of this waste carries with it mercury and cyanide, which are used to extract the gold from the rock. The resulting erosion clogs streams and rivers and can eventually taint marine ecosystems far downstream of the mine site.

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BHP’s South32 Has a Big Plus: China’s Not Its Chief Customer – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – May 4, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The mining industry’s biggest spinoff in almost a decade will offer investors a once unthinkable big plus. China’s not its biggest customer.

The world’s biggest buyer of metals will account for about 11 percent of sales for South32 Ltd., while parent BHP Billiton Ltd. and its biggest competitor Rio Tinto Group rely on China to generate more than a third of their revenue.

With less dependence on China and no iron ore mines, the new Perth-based company offers a different proposition to producers that have focused on feeding the Asian nation’s hunger for steelmaking, according to Aberdeen Asset Management Ltd.

The China story has changed since the start of the decade. Growth slowed last year to the weakest pace since 1990, while steel consumption will probably decline this year, according to the China Iron and Steel Association.

“If you’ve got a softening of growth in China, or a move to a more sustainable path, do you want all your eggs in that one basket?” said Andrew Preston, a Melbourne-based senior investment manager at Aberdeen, which oversees about $12 billion in Australia, including BHP shares.

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NEWS RELEASE: High costs and lack of infrastructure inhibiting exploration and mining development in Canada’s North: Study

May 05, 2015

Capital costs for northern mines often more than double that of southern mines

A new study entitled Levelling the Playing Field reveals the cost to explore and build new mines is as much as 2.5 times higher in northern Canada, largely as a result of a lack of critical infrastructure. This is creating major obstacles to exploring and operating in Canada’s remote and northern regions.

The study was produced by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada, the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, and the Yukon Chamber of Mines. The report defines “north” or “northern” to include Canada’s territories, as well as remote and northern regions of the provinces.

The study’s main findings were two-fold. First, the costs of mineral exploration and building and operating mines are significantly higher in remote and northern regions of Canada’s provinces and territories. Second, this cost premium is directly linked to the lack of infrastructure in these areas.

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